New Delhi: Delhi High Court has underlined that even in the absence of corroboration of medical evidence, the testimony of a child survivor, as long as it was found to be cogent and reliable, could be safely relied upon.In a recent verdict, it rejected the argument of a rape accused that since the mother of the minor survivor refused consent for the internal medical examination of the child, he should get the benefit of the same.
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja found no merit in the argument and pointed out that the mother herself explained she did not wish the girl to undergo further trauma by being subjected to such a medical examination. “This explanation does not appear to be unnatural on the part of the mother. In any event, once the testimony of the victim is found to be truthful and consistent, the mere refusal to permit a medical examination cannot be fatal to the prosecution case,” it noted.The high court, however, set aside the conviction of the man under Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for raping the minor and held him guilty of attempted sexual assault, reducing his sentence from 30 years’ life to 10 years’ imprisonment.“We hold that the appellant is guilty of an attempt to commit aggravated penetrative sexual assault and is, therefore, liable to be punished under Section 18 of Pocso Act. While there is no doubt that even the slightest penetration…, without rupturing the hymen, would constitute aggravated penetrative sexual assault, however, from the above stray statement of the victim, we are unable to conclude that there was a penetrative sexual assault upon the victim in the present case,” HC noted, modifying the punishment.The accused, in appeal, argued that he could not be convicted under Section 6 of Pocso Act for “aggravated penetrative sexual assault” and that, at best, the offence would fall under Section 7 relating to “sexual assault”, or under Section 18 relating to an attempt to commit aggravated penetrative sexual assault.The trial court had accepted the stand of the prosecution that the accused, Vikas, sexually assaulted the six-year-old girl in 2018 and, based on her testimony, convicted him in 2021.According to police, Vikas had recently shifted to the minor’s neighbourhood and, one day, bolted the door when she was alone and assaulted her.
